The funniest part of this is that the N9 is comparable hardware to the Samsung Galaxy S, a device that was sold 16 months prior.

SGS vs N9 (bold means superior)
4.0" vs 3.9"
800x480 vs 854x400
PenTile vs PenTile
SuperAMOLED vs AMOLED-ClearBlack (quite similar)
1GHz A8 vs 1GHz A8
512mb vs 1GB RAM
SGX540 vs SGX530
16GB vs 16GB/64GB
removable storage vs no option
1,500mAh vs 1,450mAh
removable battery vs fixed
radios vs radios (all equivalent)
No option vs NFC
FM radio vs FM radio + transmitter
Single vs Dual-[noise cancelling]-mic
Good 5MP camera vs Great 8MP camera
size vs size
118g vs 135g
Many Quality Apps vs Few Useless Ones*
Large Ongoing Development Community vs Huge potential but little development
No LED vs Dual-LED
...unless EPIC 4G which it has a strong single led-flash and a decent qwerty keypad

SGS points: 8
N9 points: 9
The winner: Close tie, depends on which aspects are more important to you. SGS offers much more flexibility, is more readily available and cheaper whereas the N9 has a few extra quality parts.

...imagine if Harmattan can get ported to it, cheap and better N9's for everyone. But I'd much rather have Mer+KDE on the SG NOTE!!